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Charges in slaying of Chicago teen

Two men were charged with murder Monday in the death of a 15-year-old Chicago honor student who was shot just days after returning from Washington, where she performed during President Barack Obama’s inauguration festivities.

The two young men, ages 18 and 20, were described by police as “persons of interest” when they were taken into custody early Sunday, a day after first lady Michelle Obama and other dignitaries attended the funeral of Hadiya Pendleton.

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Chicago police spokeswoman Melissa Stratton said late Monday that both young men are now charged with one count of first-degree murder, two counts of attempted murder and aggravated battery with a firearm. Their names haven’t been released.

Pendleton, a popular high school majorette, was with a group of friends who took cover during a rainstorm under a canopy in a park about a mile from the Obama home on the city’s South Side. Police said a man hopped a fence, ran toward them and opened fire with a handgun.

Pendleton was struck in the back and died later that day. Two others were injured.

Police have said none of the people in Pendleton’s group were affiliated with gangs but that the gunman apparently mistook one for a member of a rival gang that had encroached on his gang’s turf.

Pendleton’s death was one of more than 40 homicides in Chicago in January, a total that made it the deadliest January in the city in more than a decade.

But it was her background, her ties to the president’s inauguration and the location of the park that thrust her death into the national headlines and put Chicago at the center of a national debate over gun control.

Not only did the first lady attend the teen’s funeral, but the girl’s parents were set to sit with Michelle Obama during the president’s State of the Union address on Tuesday night. Obama is scheduled to return to Chicago three days later to discuss gun violence.